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UN experts accuse Israel of "using thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians"

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Pyrite

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United Nations experts accused Israel of the deliberate “withholding of access to safe drinking water from Palestinians in Gaza,” saying Tuesday that “using thirst as a weapon to kill Palestinians” violated international law.

“Israel’s blockade and destruction of civilian infrastructure has left most of Gaza’s two million residents displaced and without access to the minimum vital amount of drinking water,” the UN experts said in the statement. It added that move “has led to deaths and widespread illness caused by water pollution, and a lack of sanitation and hygiene.”

The experts said that since October 2023, when the war began, “Israel’s military operations have repeatedly targeted water facilities, wells, pipelines, desalination units, and sewage systems,” which has resulted in 89% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure being damaged or destroyed. This has left “over 90% of households water insecure,” the statement said.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli government for comment.

The Israel Defense Forces said over the weekend it had connected the power line from Israel to the desalination plant in Gaza, which would supply about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.

UN experts are not UN staff, nor do they receive a salary for their work. They are independent human rights specialists appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to the UN.
 

...In its Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2024, the International Court of Justice confirmed Israel’s obligation, as the occupying power, to ensure that the local population has an adequate supply of foodstuffs, including water. However, Israel has reduced the amount of water allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, including emergency water deliveries, which has resulted in water shortages and rationing, forcing residents to rely on unsafe and contaminated water sources.

With fuel supplies almost completely depleted, humanitarian actors have been forced to reduce life-saving activities, including the distribution of drinking water. The experts noted that critical water wells inside UNRWA installations providing hundreds of thousands of litres per day for WASH activities and for desalinated drinking water will have to shut down if an increased quantity of fuel necessary to support them is not immediately allowed into the Gaza Strip.

Rising summer temperatures and catastrophic hygiene conditions, combined with a lack of access to clean water, continue to have devastating consequences, including increased fatalities from dehydration, and an increase in waterborne diseases....
 
Lycanthrope said:
This was always barbaric, and is descending into monstrous.
Click to expand...
Right out in the open. There's nothing redeemable in the short term, but Bibi and Co have zero defense when they're finally hauled before a tribunal.
 
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